Plans A-Z

We’ve been in a spin. And while I love concocting scenarios and plans, it’s been a bit much. There are too many possibilities and options, all of them appealing. The starting point is this: we’re giving up our beloved but now unlivable Paris apartment after almost 5 years. This is not optional. After that, the ideas range from simply replicating that tiny base, all the way to crazy town, with every stop in between.

The reason I keep a blog is to keep track of our perambulations, whether they’re physical or mental, but also to keep myself honest. That part isn’t working out so well, or rather it is, but not in the way I thought. I see the irrefutable proof of my inconsistency. A place, an idea we swore we were done with, I’m now looking at and saying, you know, why not? To paraphrase Whitman: Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. For I have a multitude of ideas for being at large…

Going full nomad was plan A, but going address-less while navigating the French system for the yearly renewal of our residency cards? It’s doable, but daunting, and I like my free time to be frustration-free. Not to mention that we’ll be applying for 10 year cards next year, thus it would be best not to run afoul of the bureaucratic beast. That can be a plan for another day.

So what’s the plan? If I tell you and then change my mind, at least I’ll be consistent in my inconsistency. We’ll be moving back to Montpellier as soon as we find a place, which may already be in the works. It’s a plan that fell into place so effortlessly, literally a half-hour after we’d made the decision, that I won’t jinx it by revealing the details before it’s a done deal. My head is still spinning.

This move is not about settling down. Montpellier has all the attributes of a great French travel base, I think second only to Paris. Despite our resistance to the idea, it really is a no-brainer. It’s on the high-speed rail line and just 3 hours to Paris or to Barcelona, and it has a decent airport. Geographically, it’s close to both sea and mountains and it’s one of the sunniest places in France. The only reason it wasn’t at the top of the list for consideration was we’d already lived there, albeit during the plague. We were eager to try someplace new, but will be a new experience to live there without the travel restrictions that so marked that unusual year. One step back in order to go forward.

Onward!